Sterculia apetala (Jacq.) H. Karst.
Descripción
A tall tree, sometimes 30 meters high, with a depressed, spreading, densely leafy crown and usually a tall clean thick trunk; leaves on very long petioles, deciduous, 15-50 cm. wide or even larger, membranaceous, 5-lobate, deeply cordate at the base, glabrate above, stellate-tomentose beneath when young but soon glabrate, the lobes entire, rounded to subacute at the apex; panicles many-flowered, open or dense, equaling or shorter than the petioles; calyx open-campanulate, 2.5-3 cm. wide, yellow within, spotted with dark purple; carpels of the fruit about 10 cm. long, tomentulose outside, hispid within, sessile; seeds oval, 2 cm. long, castaneous, lustrous.A
Elevación
<300 mA
Ecología y Hábitat
Moist or dry forest or thickets.A
Tipo de vegetación
Selva baja, Bosque de otro tipoA
Categoría IUCN
Preocupación menor (LC)B
Categoría NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010
No incluidaC
Usos (notas)
The name of the tree is used in the names of two caserios of Guatemala, El Castafio in Escuintla and Castanos in Suchitepequez. "Castano" is the usual name for the tree in most parts of Central America, the seeds being called "castanas." The name "pepetaca" is recorded from Veracruz. In Panama the tree is known by the name "panama," and it is believed that the name of the country was taken from the term for the tree, which is abundant in the Isthmus region. The tree is particularly abundant in the Pacific plains of Guatemala, where often it is a conspicuous element of the forest, towering above most of the other trees. The trees are full of flowers in middle February, but also bloom at other times. Toward the end of the dry season most of the leaves fall, and the ground is often deeply covered with them. The ground seeds sometimes are used in Guatemala to make a refreshing beverage. The fallen seeds are said to be a favorite food of pigs. The bark is reported to be used in Guatemalan domestic medicine as a supposed remedy for malaria. The stiff bristles lining the inside of the carpels penetrate the skin readily, causing irritation and itching. The trunk often is supported by buttresses. The bark is greenish brown; sapwood creamy yellow, the heartwood pinkish brown. Little or no use is made of the soft wood.A